Michael J. Fox to Star as Newscaster This Fall on NBC

As previously announced this summer, the actor is returning to series TV with his own show inspired by his real life as a husband and father with an illness. Fox, 51, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1991.

“It’s an incredible show,” says Jennifer Salke, president of NBC Entertainment, who revealed new details about the NBC show at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour Sunday in Pasadena.

“Michael came in and pitched us the show, which is basically completely inspired by his life, as a family man grappling with his disease,” Salke said.

“In this case he’s a newscaster, not an actor,” she explained, “and is taking a new medication that’s enabling him to function in a new way.”

That’s where the story will pick up, “with him coming back to the seat at the news desk and the family rallying around him.”

The series hopes to take a lighter look at a serious issue.

“He approaches his life and work with a lot of irreverence and he laughs at himself,” she reveals, adding the kids will also be poking fun at their dad.

The show is going into production soon, with the first table read in two weeks. The pilot will go straight to series and will premiere in the fall of 2013 on NBC.

The pilot is written by Sam Laybourne of “Cougar Town” and “Arrested Development,” and will be directed by Will Gluck, who’s also executive producing. The series will shoot in New York.

This will be Fox’s first leading role in a television series since “Spin City.” Since then, he’s appeared on “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and had a recurring roles on “Boston Legal,” “Rescue Me” and “The Good Wife.”

In fact, Fox fans can look forward to his return Sunday night to “The Good Wife,” where he plays Juliana Margulies’ nemesis, attorney Louis Canning.